Commercial instrument.



C. D. PALMER.

COMMERCIAL INSTRUMENT.

APPucATloN min ocr. 31. |914.

Patented Aug. 13, 1918.

@onion 2101 MARGINM- RMMJIIY ISSUED FUR ISSU ED FOR LOIVESTIPRINTED I ,n n YCOMPAggiI-Y, oF CHICAGO,v

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CVLINTOND. PALMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements 1n Commercial Instrubrevity, without, however, intending any' limitation of the invention.

In various lines of business, as for example, 1n the sale of merchandise by mail, it

f is necessary to issue large 4numbers of credit vouchers, many of which are for amounts under one dollar; and it is obviously imporf tant to reduce to a minimum the labor involved in the vissue andauditing of such vouchers. Heretofore, ithas been necessary to write the amount upon both the instrument and the stub, or if the amount appeared upon the instrument in the form of a printed marginal number, it was' still necessary to write a corresponding amount upon the stub. When the voucher wasreturned for redemption, it was necessary to compare it with the stub, in order to ascertain thatV the voucher had not been fraudulently altered. Such writing, handling and auditing constituted a serious burden of 'expense which was particularly objectionable in the case of vouchers for small amounts.

One of the objects of the invention is to prevent alteration of the value of the instrument or the stub from which the instrument is detached.

Another object is to produce an instrument and stub which shall be self-auditing, no comparison of the redeemed instrument with its stub being necessary.

Another object is to obviate the lnecessity of writin the amount upon the instrument or the stuI).

The invention contemplates the provision of rows of bisected rectangular spaces and a series of pairs of consecutive numerals in said spaces, the numerals of each pair being identical and being positioned in opposite halves of the bisected spaces, and the numerals of the series being arranged with the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 31, 191,4'. Serial No. 869,50.

CLINTON D. PALMER, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,l ASSIGNORITO SEARS, ROEB'U'CK .AND

ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OFNEW YORK.

COMMERCIAL INSTRUMENT.

Patented Augiaieis.

sheet constituting a credit voucher and itsV stub embodying the features of my invention.: Fig. 2 represents the voucher and stub as being dated and det-ached from each other alongthe proper line. l

In the preferred embodiment of the invention'which I have shown in the drawings, there is provided a series of vertical lines 5 and a crossing series of horizontal ylines 6 forming rectangular spaces. These spaces are bisected by diagonally extending lines 7. A series of pairs of numerals, preferably in consecutive order, occupy the spaces, the two numerals of each pair being identical and being located in the opposite halves of a bisected. space. The series of numerals is arranged with the smaller denominations at the voucher side of the series an d the larger ones at the stub side. In the present instance there are ten horizontal rows of spaces and ten vertical rows, the first vertical. row at the right-hand edge of the series `,containing pairsl of numerals freni l to l0 running downwardly, the second row from 11 to and thence down the vertical line at ythe right of the row of 70s. This line of division is indicated in Fig. 2. r As will be seen, the highest numeral on the detached voucher is 77, so that it will be impossible to raise the voucher by trimming ofl" any portion thereof since that would lowerthe indicatedY v value of the voucher. The lowest numeral anyL `purpose.Where a stub, recordof .the

onfthestub'is also 7 7 so-thatithe-*clerk issuing the voucher cannot possibly'defraud his .employer by :trimming rofl?.-

portion. of the stub bec-anse; ;t hat. would 'Vind'ica-tei that 5 the Voucher had been issued for a higher amount than it really was. -Y

It Will be understood that my invention .sisilrotilimited tcvrtheparticular` arrangement of lines and numerals shown. inthe drawings, and, in fact, it would be possible to dispense with the lines altogether. and .employ only the rouv of ,duplicate numerals.

Thelinesg however, assist inindicatingfthe yf'place yto .tear detaching vthe voucher.

straight-,edge of a type Well knownmay be ,employed Vivhichdias an *.oiset or .diagonal edgev corresponding to the angle` and'rlength of asection 'of the linebisecting. a single O` ispace.

I'de-silred, the Voucher and rfthe stub may be ldat'ed by means .of a rubber stamp.

l Ituvlll be seen (that .the instrument herein disclosed cannot be fraudulentlyaltered. andr its .use necessitatesno Writing. llnasmuch asithe lvoucher and the stub mustneeessarily show `the same amount, thevoucher is self auditing.

QThe inventionl is useful .in making.- any kind of remittance; andl is applicable to .fsamevalueas the original is required.,

t will be understood thatv the VVsize .and l.shape of fthe number-bearing. spaces, and the angle of bisection may be vai-iedto siiit the 'conditions under Whichthe instrument is `to be used.

I claim as my invention:

1. .A Written instrument of the. `clniiacter vdescribed comprising a. body .portion and a .stub portion7 andhaving oiioueface Athere- .of crossing linesforming a plurality Aof columns yof rectangular spaces, and .lines "lnktearilnglthe voucheif'froinfits stub, aV

each space having a H bisecting said` spaces,`

"pairbf duplicate numerals, the par s of nu- A -p s f in sets4 5 -ni'erals being iconseelitihielyarrange 'transversely-fot;fthe ^sheetglt e i--theldenfeinination of the ne1 frnng set 4nearer the stub, the numerals ol'ieachpair being-l arranged on opposite "sides 'oi= ithe y.bisecting. line-.oftheir space, whereby the "sheet may bedivided along any one of the crossing lines running transversely thereof vauefof thee/ denominations of each\s,t being` lesstlnj's L and. along any (af-#said bisectinglin-esto separate; a rectangular-space tinto. hal-ves, `the numerals occupying-the .sepai-atedgqportions of 'such ,space being .thehighest ofthevseries ofnumbers remaining onfthe-body. and the lowest ofy the series of. x num-bers remaining on the stub.

2. VA',commercial .irnstrun'ient f of the 'char` acter 4.described comprising f a -,..sheet having onefaceithereof .providedwith a-.series of columns of consecutivenumbers arranged 5 :in pairs .of duplicate .numb-rrsl :the duplicate numbers of leach* `pair being4 arranged on .the sheet. diagonally. -with ires-pect "to eachother, the pairs of numeralsi beingconsecutiyely arranged in,.sets,.uiv'ith lthe'columns extend- 70 @ement @time natent y:may be obtainedforfrrve cents, each, ,byfadressing thefonimissioner.ofkatern. "Weiihmgtoni .DI 

